Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerAdam Mair said Devils players are aware that Jacques Lemaire frowns on penalties, so they play a style to please him.

BOSTON — Early in his career Adam Mair was an agitator who would sometimes take an untimely penalty.

But since the arrival of Jacques Lemaire this season, Mair has made an effort to stay out of the box.

"You kind of play the game the coach wants you to play," Mair said today after the Devils' morning skate at TD Garden. "Early in my career I would be asked to agitate, play hard, hit hard, try to get opposing players off their game. So penalties followed.

"With Jacques, he's of the mindset that penalties hurt the team. He'd rather have guys skate. Talking to Jacques right when he came (Dec. 23) and talking to Brian Rolston, who played nine years for Jacques, I found out Jacques had concerns. Jacques doesn't want players taking penalties, so you try not to."

The coach has noticed.

"When I got here they told me Mair takes a penalty every game," Lemaire said. "I'd like to know how many penalties he's taken since I got here. Not much."

Mair admitted that is a change.

"First of all, the game was different early in my career," he said. "You're trying to identify a role and find a niche in the league. I was always a physical player with my body. I wasn't in that role for the kind of offensive scoring I'd done in juniors and the minors. I was on a line with guys who would fight, get into scrums and finish their hits. I think the biggest thing is playing the way the coach wants you to play."

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Most Devils applauded the NHL's decision to suspend Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke for the remainder of the regular season (10 games) and the first round of the playoffs for his elbow to the head of Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh.

"I think it's the right way to approach that," said Patrik Elias, who missed 10 games last season with a concussion. "It's not the first time with (Cooke)."

David Clarkson agreed.

"I think the league did what they had to do, take care of player safety," the right winger said.

David Steckel, who has taken some heat after his Jan. 1 hit on Sidney Crosby, which may have played a part in the Penguins star's concussion, offered his view of the Cooke situation.

"I'm sure he (Cooke) didn't mean to hurt him (McDonagh) at all," he said. "I'm not the disciplinary committee. They're just trying to make the game safer."